'Draining the Swamp' Means Fixing the Debt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

"Drain the swamp" has been a popular rallying cry in recent American politics. Too often though, it's nothing more than a slogan about rooting out corruption or punishing political elites. Yet, draining the swamp isn’t just about eliminating corruption, it’s also about removing the toxic mix of complacency and cowardice that fills the halls of American government with what Theodore Roosevelt would call, timid souls.

Moody's recent downgrade of U.S. government debt is akin to walking into your doctor’s office and being told you’ve gained too much weight, your blood pressure is off the charts, and your cholesterol is through the roof. Rather than confront the rising tide of federal debt threatening our very quality of life, Washington essentially responded to the doctor’s diagnosis by washing down their coney-dog pizza, with a moose tracks milkshake and a Founders KBS.

Debt doesn’t knock us out overnight. Like clogged arteries, its damage builds slowly. At first, it’s just a little more interest to pay. Then it becomes harder to fund new priorities. Over time, it crowds out private investment, saps economic growth, and ties the hands of future generations.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal debt held by the public is projected to rise from 99 percent of GDP in 2024 to 116 percent by 2035 — a level not seen since the aftermath of World War II. By 2035, the federal government will be spending 30 percent of all tax revenue on interest payments, more than what we will be spending on national security or major programs like Medicaid and Social Security.

https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/draining-the-swamp-means-fixing-the

[Walleye]

1. I absolutely hate that metaphor though. Swamps are actually beneficial wetlands.

And if you want to get out of debt, you raise revenue, don’t quit eating and paying rent

[CousinIT]

2. Well, we can't just CUT our way out of debt. We have a REVENUE PROBLEM.

The wealthiest among us MUST be required to pay their fair share of taxes.

Even if we fired every federal employee, shuttered every federal agency, did away with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, the VA, and the ACA, we could not pay off our debt.

Republicans, though, because they represent the wealthy exclusively, would prefer that route. But it's not fair. It's not tenable. It's not ethical, moral, or workable, and it's not a solution. It won't work. Period.

What we NEED is to drain the billionaires and their operatives in government. THEN and only then will we be able to do the ONLY thing that will fix this problem. TAX. THE. RICH.

[markodochartaigh]

3. Some quick questions.

How much of the federal debt comes from Social Security?
How much comes from the tax breaks given to millionaires and billionaires by Reagan, the Bushes, and Trump?
What will happen when the dollar loses reserve currency status?
Before Trump how many countries talked about ditching the dollar as reserve currency? What were the countries?
During Trump's first regime how many countries talked about ditching the dollar as reserve currency?
Why do Democratic voters talk about the debt using only Republican talking points?